While traditional field-based methods are typically used to assess project performance of nature-based solutions (NBS), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ National Coastal Mapping Program (NCMP) has regularly collected coastal imagery and Lidar datasets, resulting in a wealth of information proven successful for assessing coastal storm risk, storm impacts, and dune vegetation benefits. This Research Letter identifies and describes performance metrics that are suitable for analysis using remote sensing data, using three coastal NBS project sites in Mississippi and Florida as demonstrations of the data types and analytical tools available. The intended audience for this Research Letter is coastal practitioners interested in using readily available remote sensing data to track the performance of coastal NBS. We conclude with how our examples from beach-dune and barrier-island systems are transferable to other NBS such as cobble berm revetments, mangroves, and salt marshes, among others. Development of selected performance metrics from these readily available nationwide datasets can provide decision-support value and support the creation of design guidelines, adaptive management strategies and risk-informed planning frameworks.
